Looks to be pretty darn effective, at least on a running whitetail doe inside of 100 yards.
One shot, and meat on the table.
-x- on AKForums harvested a doe with his sbr’d AKSU-74 down in Ga.
Ammunition used was surplus 7N6, the 53 gr. FMJ load with the steel core, lead plug, and air pocket in the nose.
Here’s the link, which contains post mortem pics of the doe.
Maybe those “potato vodka drinking em-fers” know what they’re doing after all? 
M_P
[jeff spiccoli voice]That’s AWESOME.
I need to send that to my “AKs put people in the ground and MUST BE BANNED father in law”.
Friggin sweet! Gotta love it!
TS
Still more proof of shot placement over caliber.
Absolutely.
Man has anyone out there seen Magpul’s new rifle the Masad! I just browsed through guns and ammo’s end of year issue and it looks incredible. Hk 416/417 step aside!
Yes, sort of. Part of the point of the post was to illustrate the effectiveness of the Russian factory arsenal 7N6 load, which features a 53 gr. FMJ bullet that does NOT behave like any U.S. issued military FMJ bullet.
The bullet used in the 7N6 has a steel core and a lead plug, but the nose of the jacket is empty, or, put another way, it has an “air pocket” in the nose.
When the 7N6 FMJ strikes the target, the lead & steel will (as intended) slide forward in the jacket. This radically de-stabilizes the bullet, causing it to quickly yaw.
The 7N6 will have a wounding capability far beyond conventional FMJ bullets of only 53 gr.
I frankly believe that using any U.S. made FMJ bullet of only 53 grn on deer would be cruel and certain to wound the animal, possibly causing a long slow death.
In contrast, the 7N6 is more than adequate to dispatch deer with a single shot (proper placement is always advisable). It is the ONLY FMJ that should be used on deer.
Regards,
TY
Like others said before, this is primarily an example of good shot placement. The 5.45x39mm has been overhyped as a “poison bullet” by detractors of the 5.56mm NATO rounds.
Wounding Potential of the Russian AK-74 Assault Rifle by Fackler, Martin L., MD
Early ballistics tests done showed the tumbling effect with high speed cameras. Because of this, some Western authorities believed this bullet was designed to tumble in flesh to increase wounding potential. At the time, it was mistakenly believed that yawing and cavitation of projectiles was of major importance in producing tissue damage. Although Dr. Martin Fackler later showed that projectile fragmentation was the key to producing significant wounding effect, this was unknown to the Soviets when they began development of the new round. This was similarly unknown to the non-Soviet alarmists who feared that they had achieved wounding parity with the 5.56 x 45mm NATO round.
However, the rigidity of the 5.45mm bullet prevents fragmentation and gave it a reputation for being a mediocre stopper. Reports of the 5.45mm projectile producing horrific wounds have been repeatedly demonstrated to be false. In his terminal ballistics study using live pigs and ballistic gelatin, Fackler was able to demonstrate that the 5.45mm round does not fragment or cause unusual amounts of tissue disruption. The only exception was a hit to the liver, which caused heavy damage due to the rigidity of the organ tissues. All other organs and tissue were too flexible to be severely damaged by the temporary cavity effect.
My statement was more in regards to specific caliber than to the selection of ammuniton type, and the fact that the shot went through both lungs and the top of the heart.
If you are comparing 5.56 and 5.45 53 gr. ang 55 gr. FMJs in relation to hunting deer at close range only, then we are in basic agreement.
The construction of the 7N6 is well documented, and it does what it was designed to do, quickly yaw upon contact, traversing soft tissue laterally, causing crushing and tearing wounds by the passage of the tumbling bullet. The M193 and M855 achieve most of their damage through fragmentation (which also requires yaw). The 7N6 at about 3,050 fps demonstrates yaw in about 6 to 7 cm of penetration, with max temporary cavity at about 11 cm, with the bullet staying in one piece thorughout its travel. The yaw effect has more to do with the bullet’s center of mass being much more rearward than standard bullets of the same weight or length, as the design of the bullet makes it much longer than comparable weight bullets.
The M193 at about 3100 fps (to stay as close to apples as possible) does not yaw until about 12 cm of penetration (average) but at that point the bullet fragments, greatly decresing the integrity of the surrounding tissue which is then torn apart by temporary cavitation, resulting in a much larger permanent wound cavity than the 5.45 produces, though much deeper.
If the implication of the post is that 7N6 is superior to all issued U.S. military rounds, we are in disagreement.
The best performing 5.56 bullets are heavier and generally OTM or SP (such as the Mk 262 Mod 1), but provide earlier yaw and fragmentation more consistently than M193 or M855.
Regardless, the incident documented shows much earlier yaw than would be expected. It appears to me that the bullet’s impact on the rib is what caused this. The short range (56 yards) ensured that the bullet was traveling with sufficient speed to perform adequately, even if the bullet had not impacted the rib. Had the same shot been taken (thorugh the rib) with an M193 I believe the results would have been very similar. However, were the shot not through the rib, I would expect the majority of the damage to be present past the heart, in the other lung and shoulder.
I didn’t intend for this post to be talking down to anyone, I just enjoy discussing terminal ballistics with other well-versed individuals. Should DocGKR jump in, I would like to hear his views on the topic as well.
When the 7N6 FMJ strikes the target, the lead & steel will (as intended) slide forward in the jacket. This radically de-stabilizes the bullet, causing it to quickly yaw.
How does this make it yaw? shfting the center of gravity forward will make a projectile more, not less stable.
The commercial 5.45 ammo with the air gap and without the steel plug exhibits at least as great a tendancy towards early yaw.
Yuppers.
If the nose was heavier than the base (if the mild steel core shifted forward) then the bullet would not come to rest base-forward.
The lead/steel shift is a commonly taught misconception.
The hollow cavity in the nose doesn’t make anything shift. It makes the bullet tip lay over sideways about 90 degrees upon impact, which quickly makes the bullet yaw.
I saw the slow motion footage on the History Channel 
Textbook.
On a coyote from 105 yards using my LMT w/ Aimpoint M3. The shot hit the curled up coyote directly in the right shoulder (we were called later to a home about 1/4 mile away from where it was shot it to finish it off- 3 hours after it was shot with the AR).
The entrance wound was huge and the right shoulder was completely busted and mangled. After it was shot it got up howling/screaming spun around twice and ran into the woodline on three legs. I was pretty shocked that the shoulder bone protected the yotes vitals. When we got to the the home where the yote was hiding it was behind a big Viking outdoor gas grill, because it was up against the house I shot it with bean bag round to get it out of its hide. After hitting it in the rear with the beanbag it jumped off the porch and it was moving quite fast on the three good legs. My partner nailed it twice with 00 buck the range about 10-12 feet and killed it.
Back to the wound from the Black Hills 69 grain OTM. It was about 3" across x
3" high. It appeared the round fragmented violently upon hitting the shoulder bone in a 360 degree fashion, my partner heard the bullet strike and stated right away “it sounded like a bone hit”. The service dept. worker that took the carcass & skinned the yote and did a quick autopsy of the shoulder area at my request. He advised that shoulder area was full of fragments but nothing got to the vitals except for 00 pellets.
I was aiming about 2 inches behind the right shoulder and with the Aimpoint having no magnification I was not surprised that I was off a bit at 105 yards. I should have aimed a bit further back as it was curled up tight and probably brought the shoulder area back a bit in doing so.
The other coyote I shot was at 40 yards with 00 buck and that one was anchored and dead before I walked up on it.